Ampul syringe



H. SPAHLINGER AMPUL SYRINGQE Filed March 1, 1920 Patented duly 1, I92

unrra rrs HENRY S1? .LINGER, 0F CAROUGE-GENEVE, SWITZERLAND.

AMPUL SYRINGE.

Application filed March 1,

T 0 all whom, it ay concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY SPAH'LINGER, a citizen of the Republic of Switzerland, residing at Carouge-Geneve, Switzerland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ampul Syringes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a clear, fulhand exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, and. to letters'orfigures or reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

The usual hypodermic syringes do not meet all the requirements with regard to sterility which must be expected from such instruments. The danger of infection and of communication of a disease from one person to another is not completely avoided in as much as one has often, for instance in times of epidemics, to apply injections to a number of individuals in quick succession, when it may often occur that the syringe cannot be sterilized at all before each in jection or at least not with the care necessary for that performance.

. at the liquid and during The-danger of causing an infection exists even-with a well sterilized syringe if the liquid to be injected has to be drawn from an ampul by the syringe. Parts of that ampul have to be broken off in order to get the process fragments of glass may get into the liquid and contaminate it.

In order to avoid the above mentioned drawbacks I construct ampul-syringes wherein a single dose of the liquid to be injected is permanently enclosed. A syringe of this kind consists of a receptacle for holding the dose of liquid to be injected, a hollow needle and means for preventing the air from coming into contact with the needle until at the moment of use. When using such an instrument said protecting means are taken ofi, the liquid injected and the whole instrument thrown away, as it is only to be used once. Such an ampul meets the requirements as to sterility but the constructions of these instruments hitherto known show other short-comings which exclude them from being generally used. Thereceptacles of some of these instruments have-been made of tin or an alloy. They present the disadvantages that the state of the liquid contained in the metallic ampul 1920. gerial N0. $62,482.

cannot be ascertained before use and further that a great many of the liquids to be used for injections cannot be kept in a metallic receptacle, as they are chemically decomposed by the metal. In other constru tions of ampul-syringes the ampul is closed by a plug which has to be pushed into the receptacle just before injecting the liquid. It requires a special instrument to push the plug, which instrument is not always at ones disposaland it complicates the device and its use. Further, it is diliicult to make the plug properly fit in the ampul. It must be a sliding fit, so that the plug can be" moved comparatively easily without putting the .glass ampul to too much strain when the plug has to act as plunger, and yet it should not let any of the liquid escape between the walls of thereceptacle and the plug. It is a well known fact that with such instruments the same quantity escapes behind the plug as is injected through the needle.

The object of the present invention is to provide an instrument of the ampul-syringe type which combines all the advantages of the known constructions and which at the sametime remedies all the above mentioned difficulties. To this end I make the ampul or receptacle for permanently enclosing the liquid to beinjected of two members of rigid material preferably glass which may be telescoped in order to force the liquid through the needle. In this respect this ampul-syringe resembles the usual syringes, but it differs'essentially from them in the manner of producin the sliding {it between the-two members. hereas in a syringe of the usual type the part acting-as plunger is well ground into the tube that acts as container, this expensive way of producing the joint of the two parts cannot be adhered to in the case of ampul-injectors which are only to be used once and then thrown'away. According to the present invention the two telescopic members do not fit closely into one another but have a reasonable amount of play producing a leaky or loose fit, and the annular space between them is filled with a plastic substance that makes a perfectly airtight joint and does not hinder the telescoping of the two members; in fact, it acts as a lubricant. This novel manner of sealing the members enables the use of ordinary glass tubes or rods which do not need to be of exactly the same diameter over their telescoping length. The plastic packing sub.- stance provides for all the smaller variations in size which these parts are bound to have when they are not manufactured with special care and with that in view. Experiments carried out with the ampul injectors according to this invention have shown that the joint is perfectly tight even when the liquid is forced into a piece of cork of normal porosity.

Several modes of carrying the invention into effect are shown'on the accompanying drawing in which- Figs. 1 to 5 represent vertical sections through five different constructions of ampill-syringes.

Fig. 6 is a modified form of Fig. 1.

The ampul-syringe shown in'Fig. 1 consists of the two parts, a and 6, preferably of glass, the part b sliding inside a and the two forming together the ampul for holding the liquid d. a is a tube closed at the bottom and b a rod acting as a plunger, a being preferably made of a transparent ma-' terial, while 6 may be made, of any material. The rod 6 is provided with a capillary bore 0 along its center line, through which the liquid d passes when it is injected. A hollow injection needle e is provided at the outer end of plunger '6 and fixed to the end of bore 0. The needle is protected from contact with the air by means of a cap f made of any material, which cap prevents any germs from contaminatin the needle. A stilletto 9 passes throug the needle e and the bore 0, is fixed at one end in the cap f, and 'the other end is just above a membrane h sealing the lower end i of the plunger 6 from the liquid.

A plastic substance is placed between the tube a and the plunger 6, making a perfectly tight joint. This paste is preferabl a mixture of oil and paraflin. The liqui is prevented from escaping between the tube a and the plunger 6 when they are telescoped by said substance which also acts as lubricant and facilitatesthe sliding of part a over part b. The plunger need not exactly fit the tube, which circumstance considerably cheapens the manufacture.

The tube a and the cap f are sealed to the plunger 1) by means of rings m and Z which may be made of an impermeable membraneous material. Suc a sealed ampul-syringe'may bev stored for any length of time without becoming contaminated.

The liquid at may be introduced into the syringe by any known method.

The use of a transparent tube a provides the greatadvantage that the surgeon is enabled to udge from the appearance of the llqllld 1ns1de whether it. is still intact and fit for use or toreject it in case it does not fulfill requirements.

Fig. 6 is a modification of the apparatus illustrated in Fig. 1 showing manner of closing of the bore of plunger 6. For this purpose the bore is flared outto a conical opening which is closed by a plug of any material insoluble in the liquid to be injected; for instance, by a plug of wax parafiin, cement, caoutchouc, etc.

WVhen using an ampuhsyringe illustrated in Fig. 1 the sealing ring Z is detached first. Then the glass cap f is pushed towards the glass plunger 6 whereby the stilletto g perforates the membrane h or pushes out a plug 0 Fig. 6 as the case may be, thus establishing communication between the liquid and the bore 0. Then the sealing ring m is taken off as well as the cap 7. The needle e is then inserted in the patient and the tube ais forced over the plunger 6 in the direction of the needle. Thereby the liquid d is pressed through the bore 0 and the needle '6 into the tissue of the patient. The total quantity of liquid is injected when the plunger reaches the bottom end of the tube.

I wish it to be understood that there is no necessity of the liquid completely filling the chamber between the tube and the plunger as is shown in Fig. 1; there may be an air space between the liquid level and the plunger.

Fig. 2 represents a modification of the ampul-syringe shown in Fig. 1. In this case the tube 1), the diameter of which is somewhat smaller than that of tube a and which is inserted into the latter, acts as plunger. A needle e is fixed to the upper end of tube 6 and a protecting cap fhaving a stilletto g surrounds the needle and is sealed to the tube 6 by a ring Z. In the same manner as shown in Fig. 1 the annular space between the tube a and the plun er tube 7) is sealed with the paste in and tu as a and b are sealed together by a ring m. The bore leading to the needle is also closed by means of a plug it. This syringe is used in a similar manner to that described. The ring I is taken off first and in pushing the cap f towards the tube 6 and the lug h is removed to open the assage for t e liquid to the needle. Then t e rin m is removed and the syringe turned upsi e down, so that the needle is at the bottom. The liquid flows towards the needle and through the latter by telescoping the tube a over tube b by which action the air inside the receptacle is compressed and forces the llq il ld through the needle into the patient.

he ampul-syrin is a modification o the construction shown in Fig. 2. Itdifiers from the previous ampul-syringe in that the tube 6 acting as plunger is provided with an inner or reentrant tube 12., integral with tube 6, the

annular space between tubes 6 and n serving as a receptacle for the liquid. The tube is forced e illustrated in Fig. 3

is preferably made of a transparent material allowing the liquid to be seen, and tube is directed downward; the liquid will then flow towards the needle and the forcing of tube a over tube b'compresses the air inside a, the increased pressure being transmitted to the liquid through the bore 0 of tube n, all the other manipulations being the same as those described above.

The ampul-syringe illustrated in Fig. 4 is amodification of that shownin Fig. 2, the only 'difi'erence is the arrangement of a as inner tube acting as plunger and b as outer tube, all the other parts and the manner of using them are the same as described with reference to Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a modification'of Fig. 4. The tube a of Fig. 4 is replaced by a rod a acting as plunger. This syringe does not need to be inverted when being used, but may be used in any position.

I claim- I 1. In an ampul syringe wherein the liquid to be injected is enclosed, an ampul for the liquid formed between two telescoping members, having a loose fit, a hypodermic needle carried by one member, a plastic sealing material between the telescoping members, and

acting as a lubricant duringthe use of the syringe.

2. In an ampul-syringe an ampul, a telescoping member of non-uniform diameter and having a loose or leaky fit therewith, and a plastic sealing substance between the telescoping surfaces acting as a lubricant during use of the syringe.

3. In an ampul-syringe a piston member and a barrel member, having a loose or leaky fit and a parafiine and 0 surfaces.

4. In an ampul syringe two glass telescoping members one of which carries a hypodermic needle, there being a loose fit between said members, and a plastic sealing substance between the telescoping surfaces of the glass n1embers, acting as a lubricant during the use ofthe syringe and as the sole means'ior preventing the escape of liquid between the members.

5. In an ampul syringe, an ampul member, a plunger member therefor, having a duct terminating in a hypodermic needle at one end and having at the other a reentrant tube.

lastic sealing material of ii between the telescoping 6. In an ampul-syringe of the type where- 'and a plastic sealing substance between the first and second tubes.

7. In an ampul-syringe wherein the liquid to be injected is enclosed, the combination with the ampul; of a telescoping straight tubular member slidable therein but whose irregularities ofexterior diameter prevent it from fitting tightly in said ampul, said member having a longitudinal bore, a hypodermic needle forming an extension of said bore, and a destructible plastic sealing material between said ampul and member operatingas the sole means of lubricating and effecting a liquid tight joint between the members during operation.

In testimon that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signed my name.

HENRY SPAHLINGER. 

